RE: why linux?

On Saturday 04 October 2003 14:39, Mark Phippard wrote:
> James,
>
> I do not dispute what you say about Linux, but unfortunately my
> experience has not been quite as good.
>
> I setup a dedicated Linux server running RH 8 on an xSeries server. 
> The sole purpose of this system is to host a CVS repository and it
> really isn't running anything else other than the normal services that
> install by default (which admittedly is a lot).  However, nothing is
> actually using those services.  I have applied the patches that the
> RedHat Up2Date service says, including those for CVS.
>
> Anyway, long story short, on a regular basis when updating the
> repository from an Eclipse Workstation the server will just reboot.

Sounds more like a hardware issue - maybe a duff portion of memory that 
gets used when more processes are running? (running memtest could check 
that out) I've got a (old) Celeron 400Mhz box set up as a samba pdf print 
server that now hosts the cvs server for our WebSphere work, and so far 
that's working fine (though running Debian rather than RH).

> I do not have the skills/experience to pinpoint the problem so I just
> live with it.  I have tried different techniques such as using pserver
> vs. extssh.  Both cause the same problem, although lately it has been
> pretty stable.

Oddly enough I *occasionally* have to reboot the box as various Windows 
machines will lose site of the pdf print share, and only see it again 
after a reboot of the server. Not all Windows boxes are affected, and a 
restart of Samba services doesn't cure it. I assume it's a DNS/WINS issue 
with our domain controllers, but I don't know enough about them to sort 
it out, so just live with the problem too :(

> I am sure the problem is solvable if I had the skills to solve it, and
> no one is saying that a business should run on Linux without being sure
> that the IT people have the adequate skills.  So I am not indicting
> Linux.  My main point was that I was fairly surprised by this given
> that CVS is a seemingly stable and widely used app, and this was a
> pretty clean setup on solid hardware.

We've actually had a number of faults with our xSeries boxes - certainly 
more temperamental than our iSeries. Mainly software issues, but RAID 
controllers & the like have caused more downtime than I'd've expected.

> I have used Linux on the desktop a bit, and other than the occasional
> problem with specific apps, I have not had similar problems.

I used to get random reboots on my Linux box, but as it affected the same 
box booted into Windows it was fairly easy to narrow the fault to 
hardware. It had a slot based processor rather than a socket, and kept 
working loose. Very annoying :(

I now have the best of both worlds - a new WinXP box for WebSphere 
development and my existing Linux desktop machine. The XP box is run 
headless, and I connect to it using the remote desktop feature. My Linux 
desktop has multiple workspaces (virtual desktops) so XP runs full screen 
on one of those. I can cut'n'paste between both systems, and if the XP 
box is churning away generating code it doesn't slow my Linux box down at 
all :)

Regards, Martin
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